no smog

The Shins are on tour right now, and Marty invited me on to the bus for a couple of show dates in Seattle and Vancouver. Thanks, baby! Look up "soul power" in the dictionary, and you will see a picture of my man.

Marty has friends in a band that's touring in a bus recently vacated by Baby(ugh)shambles: they have all these stories of finding bloodstains and horrible reeking couch cushions and shit on their bus. Luckily for the Shins, the previous occupant of their bus was ICE CUBE! He left behind a refrigerator full of malt liquor, a cabinet full of Doritos, and two half-drunk bottles of Hennessy. Can you believe that Cube himself might've put a butt to sleep right in the very spot where I am pictured freakin' on Marty?

Here's Marty among the sleeping berths in the bus. This is a cliché, but y'all, living on a tour bus for weeks on end is unbelivably grueling. After a show, all of the Shins' instruments and gear gets packed up and loaded into a trailer, then the whole band and crew flops into these berths to sleep through the night as they drive to their next destination. In the morning, they usually rent one hotel room and shower in shifts, then spend the day doing interviews and small performances like radio shows. In the afternoon, they go to the show venue and "sound check," playing songs to make sure they will be comfortable on the unfamiliar stage. Then they have dinner, perform their show in the evening, and get back on the bus to travel to the next destination.I just read the preceding paragraph to Marty to ask if he thought it was accurate. He said, "Mix in a lot of groupie handjobs, vomiting on titties, naked Olympics, and fondue parties, and that's about right."